Aegon Life to focus on digital, analytics for distribution

MUMBAI: Aegon Life plans to focus on digital, technology and analytics to reach out directly to customers. It is also planning to tie up with ecommerce companies, which are emerging as new-age distribution channels.

"Through digital, our focus is going to be on protection," said CEO KS Gopalakrishnan. "We want to say buy protection first.Protection will sell as 65% of India is below 35 years of age and India has the largest protection gap." According to a Swiss Re report, the protection gap between resources available and those required is 92%. Aegon was the first life insurance company to launch an online term plan. Gopalakrishnan said that online persistency is 94%, the best among all channels.

"We are moving away from agency to di agency to direct to customers," said Gopalakrishnan. "We will be focusing on new-age distribution channels like fin-tech companies as online is becoming the preferred channel of distribution."

In the process, the company will exit nine locations and retrench 200 employees. The life insurer, which has a paid up capital of Rs 1,700 crore, has 1,200 employees and is present in 39 locations. It will exit the agency channel completely to focus on digital selling. The company, which has has 6,000 life insurance agents, exited tele-selling last year.

Aegon Life expects to break even in the next two years, having collected total premiums of Rs 500 crore. In December 2015, Aegon raised its stake in its Indian JV to 49% after the cap on overseas investment was raised from 26%. The company is a joint venture between Aegon and Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, publisher of The Economic Times.